Diamond Head

Space Dimentia wrote: Sorry but I love Diomand head but Iron Maiden are the true founders of prog-metal.

That's funny

Which Iron Maiden track of 1983 or before is more proggy than Knight of the Swords or Ishmael?

DH influenced Maiden, and don't forget it!

Salmacis wrote: I do hear elements of prog in their other songs like 'Am I Evil?', 'The Prince' and 'Lightning To The Nations', but I'd say most NWOBHM bands had some prog in the mix somewhere; even Angel Witch and Samson on some tracks. Not convinced whether any NWOBHM bands should be here but I may change my mind on Diamond Head.

Absolutely - Heavy Metal as a genre has always been closely related to Prog Rock in that it has had all kinds of allusions and pretensions, not to mention hour-long solos, squeaky voices and themes of the fantastical...

And I'd agree with elements in Samson - and even more with Angelwitch, whose first album is complete brilliance, but I think DH went the extra mile - their style of metal is very different to other NWOBHM bands, if you overlook the fact that they influenced just about everyone from Def Leppard to Queensryche (who are here...). Queensryche's first album (1984) is generally agreed upon to have prog elements, but is closer to pure heavy metal.

Most other metal bands around 1983 just stopped being even vaguely proggy, and went for the mainstream, but Canterbury is interesting partilcularly because it shows the two directions; 1) the direction the record label wanted them to go in (more mainstream oriented, like "Makin' Music" and "Out of Phase", which is a wierd enough track in many ways!), and the direction the band wanted to go in (more progressive - ie the 4 tracks I singled out).

At the time of "Living on Borrowed Time", which shows strong prog metal leanings - and just about everyone I knew referred to Diamond Head as more of a prog band back then - especially after their stunning Reading Rock Festival set, Iron Maiden had just released "The Number of the Beast" - a fantastic album, but hardly Prog!!! IM were confirmed as one of the forefront of NWOBHM.

"Canterbury" was released in the same year as "Piece of Mind", which is hardly prog when you consider the magnificence of the music DH were capable of producing.

I just think that DH are overlooked just about everywhere - too prog for metal, too metal for prog - and the poll is currently reflecting a large "Don't know, can't be bothered to check them out" contingent.

That's my take on it, since no-one has explicitly mentioned the tracks I referred to...

I have their 2cd anthology 'Am I Evil', which I believe has a lot from 'Canterbury' so I'll give that a listen and get back to you.

I do hear elements of prog in their other songs like 'Am I Evil?', 'The Prince' and 'Lightning To The Nations', but I'd say most NWOBHM bands had some prog in the mix somewhere; even Angel Witch and Samson on some tracks. Not convinced whether any NWOBHM bands should be here but I may change my mind on Diamond Head.